... also called the "love hormone" makes people more social and communal. It's a neuropeptide and hormone that we naturally produce inside our brains. It has a wide range of functions, like:
<ul>
<li>Making us more emotionally open, trusting, and generous.</li>
<li>Making our memory suppress the negative stuff and highlight the positive stuff.</li>
<li>Relieving our pain or making the pain bearable. It also helps in lowering stress and depression.</li>
<li>It plays a big role in our daily activities like emotions, social interaction, relationships and even our sexual feelings.</li>
</ul>

Oxytocin

The hormone can be produced in the body by:
<ul>
<li>Positive and loving human interactions like hugging, cuddling and kissing.</li>
<li>Experience of loved-filled sexual encounters high on love produce the hormone.</li>
<li>Feeling sentimental, caring and empathetic in general. For Example, Watching an emotional movie(Titanic?) raises our love hormone.</li>
<li>Giving birth to a child, and breastfeeding is found to increase the level of oxytocin to forge the bond with the baby.</li>
</ul>

How To Produce More Oxytocin

Here are some cool facts about this amazing hormone and how you can help your brain to release more of it<figure><picture><source media="(min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1023px)" srcset="https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/1B5678CE-B454-4FD3-9DC6501C8C6B5409_source.jpg?w=690&amp;h=930&amp;8BE78F2D-A14E-4DB1-BBF8D0D29F16A289"><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcset="https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/1B5678CE-B454-4FD3-9DC6501C8C6B5409_source.jpg?w=390&amp;h=520&amp;8BE78F2D-A14E-4DB1-BBF8D0D29F16A289"><img src="https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/1B5678CE-B454-4FD3-9DC6501C8C6B5409_source.jpg?w=590&amp;h=800&amp;8BE78F2D-A14E-4DB1-BBF8D0D29F16A289" alt="Why Oxytocin Is Incredible and How to Get More of It" width="690" height="459"></picture><figcaption itemprop="caption description" class="t_caption" dir="ltr"> Credit: <a href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/man-hugging-dog-high-res-stock-photography/151549559" dir="ltr">Suzanne Marshall Getty Images</a></figcaption></figure>What is oxytocin?You know those warm and fuzzy feelings you get when you cuddle a puppy, hug your friend, or kiss your partner? That’s oxytocin at work.You may already have heard of oxytocin—what people have called the love hormone, cuddle hormone, or even the moral molecule. This is because oxytocin has been in the headlines, gaining a reputation for making people more trusting, generous, and even more in love. It’s a neuropeptide, meaning that it’s a protein-like molecule your brain cells use to communicate with each other. Oxytocin is also a hormone, meaning that the brain releases it into the bloodstream to communicate with the body.<figcaption>Advertisement</figcaption>Clearly, this little brain chemical has some big jobs—it plays a role in sex, childbirth, bonding, social interaction, emotions, and many other functions important to us mammals. Our brains produce it naturally, but there's also synthetic oxytocin that is sometimes used therapeutically.Either way, oxytocin seems to not only nudge us towards more pro-social behavior, but it can also play tricks on our minds. Let’s look at some ways that this complicated brain chemical affects the way we feel and act, and how we can coax the brain to release more of it for those warm, fuzzy feelings:

Scientific American is the essential guide to the most awe-inspiring advances in science and technology, explaining how they change our understanding of the world and shape our lives.

Why Oxytocin Is Incredible and How to Get More of It

Oxytocin

How To Produce More Oxytocin

CURATED BY

Related collections

More like this